SAO PAULO: Briton Jenson Button was crowned drivers’ World champion on Sunday when he finished fifth

19/10/09

Sporty India Updated

SAO PAULO: Briton Jenson Button was crowned drivers’ World champion on Sunday when he finished fifth in an incident-filled Brazilian Grand Prix won by Australian Mark Webber. 
Home-crowd favourite Rubens Barrichello, Button’s Brawn GP teammate and his closest contender, started from pole but finished only eighth after a puncture, while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth. 
The fifth-place was good enough to give Button an insurmountable 15-point lead in the drivers’ standings ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on November 1. 
Button, who has led the championship all season after winning the opening Australian Grand Prix in March, had started 14th on the grid, but drove with courage and determination to achieve his goal and send the Brawn GP team into wild celebration. 
“We are the champions” Button sang from his cockpit after crossing the finishing line and capturing the title with one race to spare. 
Double delight
His success ensured also that the Brawn team, created out of the ashes of the defunct Honda team last winter, also clinched the constructors’ World championship. 
Button’s great success came in his 169th Grand Prix and at the end of his ninth season in Formula One, a year when he won six of the opening seven races and then struggled to recapture that form. 
It was a classic case of the tortoise and the hare in the second half of the season as Button survived the intensifying pressure around him, but continued to collect points. Webber, in a Red Bull, won comfortably ahead of Robert Kubica and third-placed Lewis Hamilton. 
The results: 1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1h32:23.081; 2. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 7.626; 3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 18.944; 4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 19.652; 5. Jenson Button (Brawn) 29.005; 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 33.340; 7. Sibastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) 35.991; 8. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn) 45.454; 9. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 48.499; 10. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) 1:03.324; 11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari) 1:10.665; 12. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) 1:11.388; 13. Romain Grosjean (Renault) 1 lap; 14. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) 1 lap. 
Retirements: Fernando Alonso (Renault): accident second lap; Adrian Sutil (Force India): accident second lap; Jarno Trulli (Toyota): accident second lap; Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber): accident 22nd lap; Nico Rosberg (Williams): mechanical problem 28th lap; Kazuki Nakajima (Williams): accident 31st lap. 
Overall standings: Drivers’: 1. Jenson Button (GBr) 89 points; 2. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 74; 3. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) 72; 4. Mark Webber (Aus) 61.5; 5. Lewis Hamilton (GBr) 49; 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 48; 7. Nico Rosberg (Ger) 34.5; 8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) 30.5; 9. Fernando Alonso (Esp) 26; 10. Timo Glock (Ger) 24; 11. Felipe Massa (Bra) 22; 12. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) 22; 13. Robert Kubica (Pol) 17; 14. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) 15; 15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) 8; 16. Adrian Sutil (Ger) 5; 17. Sibastien Buemi (Sui) 5; 18. Sibastien Bourdais (Fra) 2. 
Constructors’: 1. Brawn 161 points; 2. Red Bull 135.5; 3. McLaren 71; 4. Ferrari 70; 5. Toyota 54.5; 6. Williams 34.5; 7. BMW Sauber 32; 8. Renault 26; 9. Force India 13; 10. Toro Rosso 7.